(A/n: okay, I know it's been too long and my chapters are too short. I've been working on my website, which has been down for some time now. You can view it at http://www.theolasplace.com (though it may be experiencing technical difficulties at present. This chapter is just a short taste to satisfy while I cook up something bigger. Please check out my new fanfic. I am now taking story submissions to my site. You can also view some other great Tamora Pierce fan fics. Please check it out. TTFN)
"Melinda, just look at her. Please? I know you've been able to channel the little melodic magic you have through your gift, but it's possible you could help her. More than possible, it's probable. And you know the realm could use more mages with mysterious gifts, especially now, with things as they are at the border. Please?"
"Numair…," a woman with gray-streaked brown hair rubbed her temples. "I am in absolutely no condition to take on a student right now, especially one with the magic you are suggesting."
"Honestly woman, you aren't a day over fifty, and fit at that. You and the others can afford to let your magic's be known, they're small as it is." The tall mage wheedled.
"Know we can't. It's too risky. Don't give me that look. You may not have had any problem allowing Daine's magic to be known to the world, but the rest of us enjoy our privacy." She stated in her steady baritone.
"Melinda, the girl NEEDS to be trained. She's brimming with magic. Just teach her. We can only last so long in the north, and you can keep her as hushed up as you want, I promise, I won't say a word."
The brunette swirled her red whine around in its glass a bit, then sighed again. "Fine. I'll look at her."
Important: from now on story updates will be posted a week in advance at my website, http://www.theolasplace.com
* * *
Nadia woke up to sunlight streaming into her room and into her eyes, much to her vexation. The young lady looked at the wind-up clock on her dresser. 9:45. Great, just great, she thought as she got out of bed. The rug near beside her bed had slid out of place, and her feet landed on the cold wood flooring. Shivering, Nadia dance on her tiptoes to the wardrobe and swung open the double doors. Nadia was tempted to put on a cotton dress just to spite Tessa, but on further thought decided that it wasn't worth the punishment that would be ensued afterwards- two hours of embroidery. Grabbing what Tessa defined as a "simple" gown for day wear out of the closet, Nadia put it on with haste before taming her hair into a pony tail and rushing into the parlor. It didn't take Nadia long to find out that Tessa was still sleeping off last nights alcohol consumption. This gave Nadia a good excuse to try out a few other instruments in the music room. The baritone was her first choice. Nadia never practiced it when her governess was around; Tessa classified it as an unladylike (yes, that is a word) instrument. After testing out several other "unladylike" instruments (most of them brass), the loud chime of the afternoon clock reminded Nadia that it was lunch hour. She knew she had something to do. What was it? She though. Then it came to her- the lunch date with the mage. Leaving a note for Tessa, Nadia slipped out of the door with the stealth of a cat. Sighing, Nadia shook her head and began to trot down the hall to meet a rather unusual lunch partner.
The mages hall was a spectacle to be seen. Nadia had never seen anything so lovely in her life. The glass ceiling was three stories high, allowing sunlight to fill what would have been a very dark hall. The bottom floor had several plain iron doors lined the first story in neat intervals, and windows to the other workrooms adorned the higher stories. The walls looked as though they should have been facing the outdoors rather than the inside view they had, but it was a neat effect. Especially the way the walls were decorated with rainbows from the glass prisms hanging from the ceiling. It occurred to Nadia as she walked through the hall that she didn't know quite where she was supposed to meet him. The further down the hall she walked, the more nervous she became.
Just then a door, in need of an oiling, creaked open, a screeching sound echoing through the hall. An older woman emerged. She was dress in overly wide, shapeless burgundy velvet pants, a light maroon linen shirt, and an open velvet vest, which matched the pants. The woman yanked the door shut as she tucked a stray wisp of brown and gray hair behind her ear. The rest of her hair was wrapped in a loose bun at the base of her neck. She turned her heel and faced Nadia. Her eyes squinted when she saw the girl, then opened wild in a mild, somewhat sardonic surprise. "Well, he was right," she muttered.
Just as Nadia started to back away, the woman called her back.
"Wait Nadia, you don't want to walk away from me."
The young noble looked up in astonishment. "How do you know my name?"
The woman smiled sarcastically. "Numair didn't really have a plan so he came to me to pass the torch." Nadia's eyebrows rose in question. "Let's just say my lady that you'll be eating lunch with me instead of Master Numair. Come on now, I don't bite."
Nadia followed the new woman with an air of caution back into her apartment/workroom. The bottom floor was used more for comfort, Nadia could see. The plush velvet (obviously a fabric the woman favored) sofas were pushed against the mahogany walls and the floor was decorated with an equally fluffy shag rug.
"Who are you?" Nadia asked as sat at a small oak table with small sandwiches and glasses of juice on top of it.
"I'm Master Melinda Sarroni. Do you have any idea why you are here?"
"Because you told me to follow you," the girl said facetiously.
"I like you already. What I mean is, did the almighty mage you danced with the other night tell you why he wanted you to meet him for cheese and crackers?" murmured Melinda.
"He said I have some kind of wild magic. And, no disrespect intended, I think the mage is a few sandwiches short of a picnic. I've been test for magic on numerous occasions. I've meditated for hours. I've nothing."
The old woman rubbed her temples with her forefinger and thumb. "He has told you too much. Which means that I am going to have to tell you too much," she whispered tiredly. Her voice grew to a larger volume. "What I am going to inform you must never leave this room. It would be a matter of life and death. Do you understand?"
Suddenly embroidery was beginning to look a lot more interesting. But she had come this far; there was no turning back. Nadia nodded solemnly.
"Many years ago, the goddess Elita, a goddess known only to her talented, saw the need for a people with a special kind of gift. A gift that couldn't be tracked, or yielded by those with THE gift. A magic that would have to be different from all the rest. She decided to gift people with a magic that would have to be wield by other things than simply the source of their wellspring of power. She created people who could fortune-tell be reading the signed of the cosmos and people palms. Humans whose magic could be worked through animals, or plants, sometimes even embroidery, metal-work, and….music." Nadia let out a small gasp and Melinda shot her a somewhat triumphant gaze. "She realized that humans were tentative to use their 'wild magics', so to speak, when on their own, so she formed the Society of the Laline. All of the originally gifted of Elita were part of this first group. Today, we are the successors, my colleagues and I, of that first group. We meet, decide how often we should use our magics and under what circumstances. We have laws about permitting the usage of it. These laws apply to all but Daine. She doesn't know about us, nor will she ever. Numair was insanely stupid to allow her to be so well known. It is okay for some, such as the Doi and a few others, to let their magic shine, but for me, and you we can't. Do you understand?"
Nadia did.
If anyone can guess the meaning of the goddess' name and the country it originated from, I'll get the next chapter out by the end of next week. But the reviewer must get BOTH right. It's an all or nothing deal!!!